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JM Labs Electra 946 lack of high-end detail

I have a large open-plan home theater room that I could not fill with enough sound from my Boston VR-M90 mains. My (5th) sub, an SVS PB2 Plus, was up to the job, but overwhelmed the Bostons. So after reading the critiques in this forum I bought a used pair of Electra 946s. With a single Adcom 5802 they lack all high end detail. Bi-amping them with the Adcom 5802 bottom and 2 channels of an Adcom 5503 (a bright amp) brought out a lot of detail in the speakers, but they still lack the finesse and detail of the Bostons. (I like the Boston sound.) I use an Outlaw 970 pre/pro.

Any suggestions as to how to brighten up these speakers would be appreciated. My beef in partivular is with the single 5" midrange speaker and tweeter, which sound dead.

These speakers are the '80s speakers I couldn't afford back then: big stupid bass, as someone has pointed out, efficient, loud, but not refined.
lmhlaw
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Are you sure the tweeters are functioning properly? I know, stupid question, but I don't even want to recount the times I've been to audiophiles' houses to audition gear they were selling and discovered they had drivers out and didn't even realize it. As far as I know (haven't heard this particular JM Lab model), this is not a speaker thought to lack treble detail. Certainly no Boston models I've heard, including some VRs, have had the treble detail I've heard in other JM labs models, including lower line Choruses, but this is going back some years.
aball
1,994 posts
 
Congratulations! You are the first to ever find JM Labs lacking in treble detail and refinement.

It could be yours have a problem. Did you get them from a dealer? They should leave the Bostons in the dust. Maybe you aren't used to neutral sound? We are only familiar with what we are used to...

Also, you may not have them setup properly. Do you have any toe-in on them? In general, they need some.

The midrange driver is not 5" but 6.5" and the tweeter is a one inch inverted dome. If you have something different, they your speakers were messed with.

Finally, these speakers didn't exist in the 80s, or even the 90s. They came out in 2001 with the OPC crossover. Are you sure you have Electra 946?
undertow
1,032 posts
 
Aball, I think the 80's speakers he is refering to is the Bostons, not the JM Labs.. Focal drivers used in all JM labs I have had are anything but forgiving and low detailed highs or Crisp mids.. Mostly they are normally pretty midrang and Hi's heavy, so something else is going on here in my opinion.. Maybe a speaker Short to a wire inside or you have them Out of phase hooked at the amps, but that would normally make them even more Thin and bright..
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Uh, guys, I'm sure the archetypal "80's speakers" Lmhlaw was referring to are neither Bostons nor JM Labs in his mind -- that was just a pejorative description of the sound. And I really don't think someone took out a healthy 6.5" mid and left a skinny little 5" shivering in its place. Every not take things so literally dudes? And yes, lots of bass and no highs does not indicate out of phase hook up...As I said, there is probably something screwy going on with the tweeters, which are more easily damaged. Well, in any case at least we all agree this ain't right...
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